Forfar Athletic 1 Raith Rovers 1

[Saturday, 11 May 2019 22:11]

The ‘Loons’ brave bid for promotion to the Ladbrokes Championship came to an end in a hard-fought battle at Station Park yesterday, the 1-1 draw seeing Raith Rovers clinch the two-legged play-off semi-final.

An amazing crowd of 2.152 in the afternoon sunshine witnessed a goalless first half which had a similar intensity to the first leg, but certainly not a similar standard of play.

However ten minutes into the second period, the home support erupted as John Baird got on the end of a Jamie Bain cross to head the ball past Dean Lyness in the visitor’s goal to put the Athies level on aggregate.

Four minutes later and the tie was turned on its head with what turned out on the day to be the incident that led to the visitors clinching a final clash with Queen of the South in the week ahead.

Defensive misunderstanding and a bit of bad luck perhaps set Nathan Flanagan homing in on Marc McCallum’s goal only for the Rovers sub to be brought down as he attempted to shoot by Michael Travis.

Euan Anderson awarded the spot kick and the inevitable double whammy of a red card for the home skipper.

As Michael trudged off in an obviously distressed state, Kevin Nisbet made no mistake from the spot.

Despite never giving up as has been the case throughout the campaign, the ten-man home side could not find the equaliser, the contest in the closing stages becoming exceptionally fractious with a string of yellow cards issued to both sides.

The final whistle brought the curtain down on what has still without a doubt been a tremendous campaign for all connected with the ‘Loons’ with many more highs than lows.

However, as much as all will be hurting a little this weekend, but given time to reflect many memorable moments from the season will be recounted.

Another short close season is now upon us, with training due to commence in mid-June, with the first pre-season friendly pencilled in for June 29th, the Betfred Cup due to commence on July 13th.

Match Data

Ladbrokes SPFL Championship Play Off Semi Final
Saturday 11th May 2019
Station Park, Forfar

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